City parking to be free after 5pm during Edinburgh Festival

Parking across Edinburgh city centre is to be free from 5pm during the Edinburgh Festival.

The ‘Alive after 5’ campaign is being run by Edinburgh City Council, Marketing Edinburgh and Essential Edinburgh, and will also see shops staying open until 7pm.

The three organisations will make-up the estimated £55,000 in lost income which would have expected to be collected from parking meters in that time

Transport leader Lesley Hinds said: “This is a fantastic initiative that will make it more attractive for people to come into the city centre in the August evenings or for workers to stay longer at the end of their day.

“Edinburgh has a superb range of shops, restaurants and festival venues, and this is all about helping people to spend more time enjoying them during a period which is so important to businesses.

“While the free parking should encourage visitors to the city centre, there’s also great public transport available, including frequent buses and trains, and several park and ride sites.

“We know there is pressure on Edinburgh businesses and we are committed to various initiatives that will support them.

“I’m also delighted that so many firms have put their backing to this campaign, ranging from small independent traders to household names such as John Lewis, Harvey Nichols and Primark.”

Lucy Bird, Marketing Edinburgh chief executive, said: “Businesses and shoppers have welcomed similar initiatives before, and recent experience in Manchester and Newcastle shows that it can make a real difference.

“We could see up to an extra 20% footfall in the city centre and we’re really confident that this will help the shops that are extending their hours as well other traders.”

Andy Neal, chief executive of Essential Edinburgh said: “We are fully behind this pilot and anticipate that it will help bridge that gap between when shops normally close and when people begin to visit restaurants and cafes.

“Given experiences elsewhere, we expect the additional opening time to help trading, in particular to be busier than early morning.”